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Parking lot design solutions
Parking lots are carved out of existing soil or are developed after soil has been removed or added to the area. In either case, severe soil disturbance and compaction almost always occurs. This makes it tough to grow trees in islands and other small soil spaces constructed in the parking lot. The idea is to create a system that can accommodate tree roots while minimizing interference and damage to the infrastructure.
Planting trees in several large soil spaces often results in healthier trees and more sustainable designs than planting in many small soil spaces. Trees grow better, they last longer, and nutrient runoff from fertilized soil may be less because there are fewer linear feet of edges with asphalt.
These are solutions that have worked for communities: |
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| parking lot island design | gravel pavers | curbing |
| interior linear strips | porous pavers | structural soil |
| island size | porous pavement | other ideas |
| buffer strips | sign placement | See: preserve trees |
